1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plant watering device. More specifically, it relates to a watering device having a planter tray manually movable between an upper drainage position and a lower watering position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of watering devices are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,335 discloses a complex automatic self watering dish garden for plants which includes many separate interlocking pieces. The device relies upon a water absorbing member which extends from the growing medium through the bottom of the tray into the liquid holding reservoir to effectuate watering. U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,048 also utilizes a water transfer element to facilitate watering. U.S. Pat. No. 4,336,666 utilizes tubular metering nozzles for this purpose. U.S. Pat. No. 4,198,784 discloses an automatic plant watering device which has upper and lower containers. A flow regulator is provided for watering and the upper container preferably includes drain holes to allow drainage of excess liquid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,352 discloses a plant container for draining moisture from the soil which includes a main container and a rotatable reservoir. Fluid is allowed to pass from the main container to the reservoir when conduits of the reservoir are aligned with orifices in the main container. By rotating the reservoir tray, fluid can be either drained from the soil or stored in the reservoir tray.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,080 discloses a planter having a self-indexing removable drain dish which catches water which drains from a bottom drain hole of a potted plant. This patent does not provide a means of watering the potter plant from the bottom of the pot. U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,940 discloses a terraced planter which provides separate plant beds in individual compartments. The compartments have bottom holes to allow drainage and the planter preferably provides a drip pan to catch excess water.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,179,800 discloses a growing tray which allows for air-pruning of plant roots. The plant tray has a surrounding edge to hold water above the top of the tray cell or microfeeding holes for self watering.
U.S. design Pat. Nos. D278,076; D278,075; and D259,777 disclose other plant watering and root irrigating systems.
There remains a need for a simple, inexpensive plant watering device which allows for the easy and convenient manual watering of potted plants.